Week 6 - Power, Politics and Historical, Reading; Gregory (2011) Flashcards
How did the Nazi party adopt ideas from Freidrich Ratzel?
- Legitimise imperial ambitions.
- exercise power over populations
- Re-rationalising space
- totalising identity.
What does Terra Nullius mean?
Land that is empty ‘unworked’ prior to discovery
In what contexts what Terra Nullius used?
Used to stress the idea that the land belonged to “no one”, deployed in Australia and North America. (a fetish that hides violent relations)
How can the Nazi party’s world view be used as a case study of maps, borders, and law?
Friedrich Ratzel theorised lebensraum (spatial requirement for expansion), which the Nazi party adopted.
Provide another more recent example of a violent policing of borders.
In the Middle East, Israel and Palestine, are marked territories that dispute over land. Originally mandated by the British, Israel became a territory. But over time, this has become politically divided, with more lines drawn throughout 20th century.
What does Camera Obscura refer to?
A darkened room with a pinhole.
What do cameras provide from a critical cartography perspective?
Cameras require participation in the production and consumption of an image, as observer or photographer.
How did photography impact empires?
Photography changed the speed and space of visual representations. Offered new horizons of analysis and spatial planning.
What does Barthes argue about photography? How does he reflect on it?
Barthes argues photography is an alternate form of representation. Stemming from critical cartographic thought, Barthes determines that photography can be violent, since it fills the sight by force.
Detail the names of other authors who critically engage with photography.
Sontag - images have virtually unlimited authority in modern society.
Benjamin - argues that in the age of mechanical reproduction (of images), the aura of a photograph is diminishing.
How does Heidegger reflect on photography?
From his perspective, photography can be seen as a produce and contributor to the modern technological understanding of the world. He questioned the cartesian and technological way of the world. The age of the world picture refers to the idea that the photographic image of the earth is abstracting, and can be analysed/interpreted.
What are the ways in which the world has been viewed as an image?
- The idea of the world as an exhibition space (particularly through world fairs and panoramas), was a European imperial project.
- photography as a tool of taxonomy (e.g., the photographer behind the black cloth)
- exoticism and the construction of a national of European self.
Provide an example of how lines exist as material and manifest power and control?
The Cantino Planisphere and the division of the world between Spain and Portugal, defines boundaries, and the world view. In turn, manifesting power and control.
